Global Warming’s Six Americas

The report identifies six groups of Americans based on climate change attitudes: Alarmed, Concerned, Cautious, Disengaged, Doubtful, and Dismissive. As of September 2021, the Alarmed segment is the largest at 33%, having nearly doubled in size over five years. Combined, the Alarmed and Concerned make up 59% of the population, while the Doubtful and Dismissive comprise 19%. The document notes a general trend of increasing public worry and support for climate solutions, though it emphasizes that the Concerned and Cautious groups still lack a full understanding of climate threats and urgency.

• Americans are categorized into six groups based on climate change perspectives: the Alarmed (highly engaged and supportive of action), the Concerned (view it as a threat but prioritize it less), the Cautious (aware but uncertain of causes), the Disengaged (largely unaware), the Doubtful (question the reality or human cause), and the Dismissive (firmly reject human-caused warming and oppose policies).
• The Alarmed segment has become the largest group in the U.S. population, growing from 18% to 33% over five years, including a 9 percentage point increase between March and September 2021.
• A majority of Americans (59%) are either Alarmed or Concerned, while a minority (19%) are Doubtful or Dismissive; specifically, the Alarmed (33%) outnumber the Dismissive (9%) by more than 3 to 1.
• While public support for climate policies is growing across party lines, the Concerned and Cautious segments, representing 42% of U.S. adults, do not fully grasp the urgency or the threat of climate impacts.

APA

A., L., E., M., S., R., J., K., L., N., J., M., J., C., K., L., & M., G. (2022). Global Warming’s Six Americas. Center for Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/all/global-warming-six-americas-2021/

Chicago

A., Leiserowitz,, Maibach, E., Rosenthal, S., Kotcher, J., Neyens, L., Marlon, J., Carman, J., Lacroix, K., and Goldberg, M. Global Warming’s Six Americas. Center for Climate Change Communication, 2022. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/all/global-warming-six-americas-2021/.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{a2022global, author = {A., Leiserowitz, and E., Maibach, and S., Rosenthal, and J., Kotcher, and L., Neyens, and J., Marlon, and J., Carman, and K., Lacroix, and M., Goldberg,}, title = {{Global Warming’s Six Americas}}, institution = {Center for Climate Change Communication}, year = {2022}, month = jan, url = {https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/all/global-warming-six-americas-2021/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }